>tile work

This is what I’ve been working on this week. These tiles were commissioned by a friend to be given as hostess gifts for her daughter’s bridal showers and brunch.

I roll the clay out on my slab roller, cut the shapes and stack on pieces of sheet rock.

Then I carve, attach and stamp the design into the clay. They have to dry slowly and completely before going into the kiln for the bisque firing.

I love working with clay. It is a quite, gentle kind of work. The wet terracotta clay looks like chocolate.

Some of the tools of the trade

Now they are glazed and ready to go into the kiln. I love to use Majolica glaze on textured terracotta. White glaze is applied first and then the color. After it’s fired, the high places on the tile show through the glaze, though I don’t think you can tell it in the pictures.

All done.

These tiles measure about 5″x8″ and can hang on the wall or stand on an easel. I will be adding these and other designs to my website and they will sell for $25.00 each.

Jerita | 07/25/2008 at 4:22 pm

Gardens of Lace | 08/04/2008 at 9:08 pm

>Hi Mary, I stop by you blog so now I am posting. I just love it. You are so talented and it inspires me. I have been perusing through the archives and love reading through them. Just wanted to say hi and that I love you blog and website!–Kimberly Law

Flower | 08/13/2008 at 3:48 pm

>Hi Mary!! Is the painting done? I’d love to see how it turned out! My plum sauce is very simple..no recipe…just cook down, add sugar to taste,a little lemon juice and simmer until somewhat thick…that is relative to what you like. Mine is not very thick. I may actually pour the sauce over the pork while it is cooking and create a glaze.